Jury selection has begun this week in the Yolo County Courthouse in Woodland. The task will be tall, picking a death-qualified jury in the case of Marco Topete, who is accused of murdering Yolo County Sheriff’s Deputy Tony Diaz.
In that case, Defense Attorneys were rebuffed by Judge Paul Richardson in their effort to exclude the death penalty, based on the excessive delay in California’s administration of the death penalty, that is argued to constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
They argued that, “Since the death penalty was reestablished in California [in 1977], 13 offenders have been executed.” And they added that a recent report by the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice on California’s death penalty agreed with former California Chief Justice Ronald M. George that “California’s death penalty system is dysfunctional.”
Supervising Deputy DA Garrett Hamilton argued that the motion was not ripe yet as there was no conviction, but also cited a case where “the court rejected a claim by the appellant that a more than 20 year delay in his execution violated the state and federal constitutions. In that case, the court addressed the Lackey decision of the United States Supreme Court that is cited in the defendant’s motion. In that decision, at page 404, the court held that the normal post-conviction review process was not grounds for finding that the constitution had been violated.”
Judge Paul Richardson denied the motion on the basis of state court rulings cited by the prosecution that argued there was no constitutional violation in delays created by the post-conviction review process.
From a realistic standpoint, it is far more likely that Mr. Topete, assuming he is convicted and sentenced to be executed, would die from other causes than to be executed by the state. And from a fiscal standpoint, the death penalty is costing the state huge amounts of money.
Thus, it is worth noting the expense Yolo County will incur for a death penalty case, and the expense the State of California will incur to hold Mr. Topete on death row and likely not execute him. At the same time, the State of Illinois became the 16th state to repeal the death penalty. This marks the fewest number of states that have the death penalty in more than thirty years.
Recently, New Mexico and New Jersey had voted to abolish the death penalty, in 2009 and 2007 respectively. New York’s death penalty law was declared unconstitutional in 2004, and the last person was removed from death row in 2007. More states are expected to introduce legislation to repeal the death penalty in 2011, including possibly Connecticut, Kansas and Maryland.
Yesterday, Governor Pat Quinn finally signed legislation that was passed well over a month ago. He commuted the sentences of all 15 inmates remaining on death row, who now will serve life without parole.
“We have found over and over again: Mistakes have been made. Innocent people have been freed. It’s not possible to create a perfect, mistake-free death penalty system,” Governor Quinn said after signing the legislation.
It was a decade ago that the State of Illinois put a moratorium on executions, out of concern that innocent people could be put to death by a justice system that had wrongly condemned 13 men.
According to a release from the ACLU, “Even before the state could execute its first prisoner (Charles Walker in 1990), two men were exonerated and released from death row. In 1994, two more executions took place (including the notorious John Wayne Gacy), but the following year saw three more men released from death row. “
The article continues, “The Chicago Tribune published a series of exposes on flaws in the death penalty system. The names of exonerated individuals became household names — the Ford Heights Four, Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez. By January 1999 the evidence was overwhelming, leading then-Illinois Gov. George Ryan to place a moratorium on executions in Illinois. The governor also initiated a process for reform, creating a commission on capital punishment that produced a great number of recommendations for improving and “fixing” the system — most of which never were implemented.”
Still more exonerations followed, leading Governor Ryan to commute all death sentences in the state before he left office. Writes the ACLU, “The tide had turned. Since 2000, there have been 8,000 murders in the State of Illinois, and only 17 convictions resulting in a death penalty.”
It is worth noting that while Illinois has a third of the population of California, they had just 15 inmates left on death row, compared with the more than 700 people on death row in California despite only 13 executions since 1977.
“The Illinois repeal is an indication of a growing national trend toward alternatives to the death penalty, and an increased focus on murder victims’ families and the prevention of crime,” said Richard Dieter, Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center. “In light of our current economic climate, the public has increasingly recognized that resources used for the death penalty could be diverted to higher budgetary priorities, such as law enforcement and victims’ services.”
Prosecutors and some victims’ families had urged the governor to veto the measure, but nstead he offered words, consoling those who have lost family members and other loved ones to violence. He told them that he understands victims will never be healed. But of course, as many recognize, the death penalty rarely provides for that healing either.
In fact, many families of murder victims were among the strongest supports of the Illinois repeal.
In a letter signed by more than 30 individuals who had loved ones murdered in Illinois, one group wrote: “A legal system that wasn’t bogged down with committing tremendous resources on capital cases could prosecute and sentence countless other crimes and take dangerous people off the streets before they commit murder. Dollars saved could be put toward counseling for victims of crime or other services we desperately need as we attempt to get on with our lives.”
Even conservatives supported the repeal. Conservative Republican Senator Dan Duffy of Lake Barrington said, “We have spent over $100 million of taxpayer money defending and prosecuting death row cases. The death penalty does not make our society safer, I believe. It has been an ineffective and expensive use of our scarce resources.”
The death penalty has been under scrutiny in other states as well. Texas, which is notorious for being the death penalty capital of the world, has reeled under scrutiny from several notable cases where poor forensic techniques led to the execution of possibly innocent individuals, including the notorious case of Cameron Todd Willingham which has been the subject of a Frontline television segment, as well as a couple of articles on the Vanguard.
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul E. Pfeifer, who as a Republican state legislator played an influential role in shaping the state’s current death penalty statute, stated: “I have concluded that it is exceedingly difficult for this statute to be administered in a fair and just way… Gov. [John] Kasich and the governors after him, I believe, need to consider commuting all of those sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and I think it’s time for Ohio to at least entertain the discussion of whether or not we are well served by having a death penalty.”
But, as in many respects, Yolo County remains behind the times. The extra court time and processes will cost this county money that is in desperately short supply. Some will argue that if ever a case screams for the death penalty, it is the case of Marco Topete.
If he is convicted of his crimes, he will have been convicted murdering a Sheriff’s Deputy with numerous special circumstances. The problem is that he will never be executed, so the state will spend money, the county will spend money, and Mr. Topete will likely die in prison from some cause other than the death penalty. So why undergo the expense?
He would probably plead to life without parole today, sparing us a lengthy court trial and the re-opening of familial wounds. Our sources indicate that he has not been offered any kind of deal and sources suspect that they want to make an example of him.
When we are flush with money, perhaps there is some sense there. But why is it that a Conservative Republican from Lake Barrington, Illinois, gets what we in Yolo County do not seem to understand? That we just cannot afford this system anymore, that it is broken and beaten.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
As I said before, cases that provoke an emotional strong visceral response, public outrage and when the state wants revenge for killing a state officer, it is hard to see the real problems with the death penalty.
If I did not know the system, the flaws, the games and politics played by DAs and if my brother, son or friend was killed, I would probably want the death penalty.
However, knowing all the deep unreliable issues, the unfair and unethical steps that DAs will go to just to get a coveted “Death Penalty Trial/conviction” under their belt and on their resume, not to mention Death Row inmates get better housing and Status in prison, there is not way I would every want the death penalty for anyone. Lock them up for life and throw the key away. Some will argue that the Death Penalty is a great plea bargaining tool, the only problem is it is never plead down since the DAs want the stat for it. The current Attorney General refused to go for the Death Penalty for a San Francisco cop that was murdered and the police supported her for election. So this is not about cops wanting it or the public, it is about the DA getting his “Death Penalty” lapel pin to show off or use later for his political aspirations.
First, the cruel and unusual punishment argument will not work, IMHO. The reason being that it is the defendant who prolongs the process, not the gov’t. The defendant has the power to to make sure his execution is not prolonged for twenty years or more.
Secondly, I think blaming Yolo County/our local DA here is misplaced/inappropriate. The availability of the death penalty as a possible sentence is a STATE issue, and the voters have indicated a continued desire to be “tough on crime”. If you want death penalty reform in CA, you need to blame the voters/state legislators.
Elaine: I think that’s a cop out. There’s discretion, one of the points that prosecutors have to start thinking about is cost. Everyone else does. You attack spending at every level of government except the justice system it seems. From the standpoint of public safety, there is virtually no difference between DEATH and LWP except for cost.
ERM: Sorry I disagree this is not a State issue or it would be required and applied uniformly and it is not. As I pointed out the SF DA, Now State AG, did not go for death for a cop killer. It is a total discretionary call by each 58 DAs. That is why it falls on this DA. To try and make this a state or voter issue is smoke and mirrors.
Bottom line, the DA could be seeking LWOP and he is not. This call was not up to the state or the voters, it lies directly in lap with this DA.
RR:
The SF case is night and day from the Topete case. First and foremost, the officer in SF was not in uniform and was working undercover. Deputy Diaz was not only in uniform and in a marked unit…but was also in pursuit of Topete when he was murdered. Kamala Harris stated during the campaign that these were major factors in her offices decision in not going for the death penalty…It should also be noted that the person on trial for that officers murder was actually convicted of 2nd degree murder.
[quote]From the standpoint of public safety, there is virtually no difference between DEATH and LWP except for cost. [/quote]
I respectfully disagree. Inmates doing life are free to continue committing vicious assaults while incarcerated. In states without the death penalty, there is no penalty to killing over and over. They aren’t going to ever get out anyway.
dmg: “Elaine: I think that’s a cop out. There’s prosecutorial discretion, one of the points that prosecutors have to start thinking about is cost. Everyone else does. You attack spending at every level of government except the justice system it seems. From the standpoint of public safety, there is virtually no difference between DEATH and LWP except for cost.”
Do you honestly think it would have been appropriate for Reisig to ask for LWP for Topete? In this county? In the face of law enforcement? If Reisig wants to get re-elected? Did not Reisig have THE ABSOLUTE RIGHT to ask for the death penalty? Don’t you think Topete deserves the death penalty if he is convicted of this crime?
RR: “Sorry I disagree this is not a State issue or it would be required and applied uniformly and it is not.”
It is a STATE ISSUE as to whether a DA can ask for the death penalty or not. In CA, the death penalty as a sentence is permitted. If you don’t like it, blame it on the state legislators/voters. If you blame the DA in this particular case, then your blame is misplaced. If there ever was a case that cried out for the death penalty, this case would be it!
Bottom line, if you want the death penalty repealed, who has the power to do that? Not the DA. Not the courts. It is the legislators and voters, period.
Like many, the main thing that bothers me about the death penalty is the possibility of mistakenly executing an innocent person.
For lawyers and legal scholars in this forum; might there be a mechanism for introducing a higher standard of guilt before the death penalty can be imposed? That is, to be convicted of a crime requires “guilty beyond a reasonable doubt”. Is it conceivable that a higher standard (e.g “guilty beyond any doubt”!) be introduced, based on some criteria of overwhelming evidence? I can imagine that this could be a tricky standard to define and implement; but might it be possible? I wonder if any other nations have something like this?
“Do you honestly think it would have been appropriate for Reisig to ask for LWP for Topete? In this county?”
It would be very easy, he would just talk about the resources they have and the fact that Topete will most likely never be executed.
“Bottom line, if you want the death penalty repealed, who has the power to do that? Not the DA. Not the courts. It is the legislators and voters, period. “
The courts could do it. They probably won’t, but they could. The DA doesn’t need to wait for it to be repealed, all they have to do is not seek the death penalty. That’s essentially what happened in Illinois and other states.
[quote]I respectfully disagree. Inmates doing life are free to continue committing vicious assaults while incarcerated. [/quote]
They are free to do that? He would probably be on lock down 23 hours a day and his opportunities limited for such thing. It’s not clear that he would pose a substantially greater risk in that situation than he would sitting on death row the rest of his life.
Yes, they roam about except when the prison is locked down, and that occurs only when there are incidents. Read up on Pelican Bay — you will see constant examples of inmates attacking one another and officers … most recently three officers were stabbed there. It is an inconvenient fact that they do pose a MUCH higher risk on the mainline than on death row. With all due respect, you do not know much about prisons.
http://www.ccpoa.org/news/entry/inmates_attack_pelican_bay_officers/
It is a debatable point how much I know about prisons, but we are talking about 170,000 overall inmates and 700 people on death row. It’s now exactly a huge population increase, and I willing to guess it would not be a huge risk increase either.
On the other hand, we are spending tens of millions each year on those individuals. If security is really the issue, we would have freed up resources to improve it.
dmg: “The courts could do it. They probably won’t, but they could. The DA doesn’t need to wait for it to be repealed, all they have to do is not seek the death penalty. That’s essentially what happened in Illinois and other states.”
How exactly could the courts repeal the death penalty? The courts are not supposed to legislate…
In Illinois, it is the Governor who put into place the moratorium on the death penalty, not some District Attorney. From the website justicedenied.org: “In a move that commanded worldwide attention, on January 31, 2000, Illinois Governor George Ryan declared a moratorium on further executions in Illinois pending “the opportunity to review the recommendations of a commission that I will establish.”…
The imposition of a moratorium by no means ends the death penalty in Illinois. All death row inmates will remain under death sentence. It simply postpones the executions until such time as the Governor is satisfied that the system works. In his announcement, Ryan made it clear that he still supports capital punishment.”
The courts could rule that the DP violates the 8th Admenment to the constitution, as they did back in the 1970s before they overruled themselves.
[quote]It is a debatable point how much I know about prisons, but we are talking about 170,000 overall inmates and 700 people on death row. It’s not exactly a huge population increase that we are talking about, and I willing to guess it would not be a huge risk increase either.[/quote]
Well, you are talking about 750 murderers who will be placed in mainline level 4 institutions with sentences of life without parole. I think we could agree there is a likelihood that some will kill again … lets say 15%. (Remember, we are starting with a population of killers .. often with multiple victims). Some may kill again more than once (why not? — no penalty right?) So, on death row or executed — no more victims. Off death row, 100+ victims. And that does not count the serious assaults etc.